The Russian Gangster Who Loved Trump’s Taj Mahal

Vyacheslav Ivankov

Remember Vyacheslav Ivankov, the Russian gangster?

He was perhaps the most feared of the Vory vor v zakone, a member of the “thieves-in-law,” the highest criminal echelon in Russia.”Yaponchik” (Little Japanese), as he was known, came to New York in March 1992 to organize the Russian Mob.

Despite Ivankov’s flagrant, multinational criminal activities, during his first years in America, the FBI had a hard time even locating him.

They eventually found him in Trump Tower. A copy of Ivankov’s personal phone book, which was obtained by author Robert I. Friedman, included a working number for the Trump Organization’s Trump Tower Residence, and a Trump Organization office fax machine.

Ivankov vanished again and then turned up at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, the Trump-owned casino that Trump liked to call the “eighth wonder of the world.”

I’ve come across some FBI documents that add a bit more to this story:

And this:

The Taj Mahal had become the Russian mob’s favorite East Coast destination. As with other high rollers, scores of Russian hoodlums received “comps” for up to $100,000 a visit for free food, rooms, champagne, cartons of cigarettes, entertainment, and transportation in stretch limos and helicopters.